Tuesday, December 24, 2013

WHITE CHOCOLATE PECAN BARK

White Chocolate Pecan Bark, (C) 2013, Judy Barnes Baker

I made low-carb Christmas cookies for my husband but I'm still on an elimination diet trying to figure out what I'm allergic to. Chocolate, dairy, almonds, eggs, gluten, sugar, and foods that are high in Chromium (which includes almost everything, animal, vegetable, and mineral!) are off limits for now. This is the most innocent treat I could come up with that I could eat. I've only made it once, but it was very good.

Line a 8- x 12-inch shallow pan with parchment paper or foil and place in refrigerator to chill.

Melt the coconut oil, coconut manna, and cocoa butter together in the top of a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water. Add sweeteners, vanilla, and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in pecans and pour onto chilled pan in an even layer. Place in refrigerator until hardened. Break into irregular pieces. Candy will soften if left at room temperature for too long.

*Coconut oil is liquid above 76 degrees and solid below. It is sometimes called coconut butter when it is in a solid state. Coconut manna or creamed coconut is to coconut what peanut butter is to peanuts. It is finely ground coconut flesh, not just the extracted fat. Instructions for making it yourself are easy to find online. I also found a YouTube video for making it in a high-speed blender, but haven't tried it; I bought mine and it was much dryer than the one shown in the video.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Do you know how much a 1/3 cup of cocoa butter weighs? I have a bag of it in chunks and usually recipes give the weight. Thank you very much, this sounds interesting. I hope you find what is causing your allergic reactions.Nancy

Nancy: I made the recipe again and weighed the cocoa butter. One-third cup of finely-chopped cocoa butter weighed about 1 and 1/2 ounces. I added that info to the ingredients list in the recipe. However, the proportions aren't terribly important and you could use more or less of the coconut oil, coconut manna, and/or cocoa butter. (But more coconut oil will lower the melting point.)

Thanks for the question. That should have been in the recipe. I posted on Christmas Eve after making it for the first time, so it was a rush job.